VIDEO: Fix physician burnout? You need more than yoga

NEW ORLEANS – Among a growing number of physicians, the words of a Righteous Brothers’ song ring true about their careers: They’ve lost that loving feeling.

For burned-out physicians, “they’ve lost that sense that they’re making a difference,” explained Susan Thompson Hingle, MD, of Southern Illinois University in Springfield. And the solutions aren’t simple. “You can’t yoga your way out of this,” Dr. Hingle cautioned.

At the annual meeting of the American College of Physicians, Dr. Hingle and Daisy Smith, MD, vice president of clinical programs at the ACP, talked about solutions to burnout, including how more traditional approaches can boost physician well-being, such as team-based care, physician champions, and increasing the pool of primary care providers.

But they also detailed ways that struggling physicians can find support from an unlikely source: their patients.